End of war hinges on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon: FM
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that any new Israeli attacks on Lebanon or continued occupation of the recently-seized territories in the country would constitute a violation of a peace agreement that is scheduled to be signed between Iran and the US on Friday.
Speaking at a meeting with foreign diplomats based in Tehran on Tuesday, Araghchi identified the most important provision of the memorandum as declaration of an immediate and permanent end to the war across all fronts, including Lebanon.
The foreign minister also emphasized that the end of the war also requires an end to the Israeli presence in the territories that the regime has occupied since escalating its aggression against Lebanon.
"The end of the war includes the end of occupation. Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories they occupied during this war, the war will have not been fully brought to an end," he said.
The conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah began in March after the Lebanese group launched military operations against the Israeli regime in response to the regime’s aggression against Iran.
The war has claimed at least 3,700 lives since March 2, according to the latest figures released by Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Hezbollah's chief Sheikh Naim Qassem in a message to Iranian Parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, thanked him for helping stop the "Israeli-American aggression" on Lebanon.
Naim Qassem expressed "profound gratitude" for Iran's efforts "to compel the Israeli entity to an immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
Sheikh Qassem added, "We have always said that Iran has given Hezbollah, the resistance and the Lebanese people everything, and has taken nothing in return. It has supported us in our choices and strengthened us to liberate our land.”